


Hybrid

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: Ancestry [1]
Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies), Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Animal Instincts, Dinosaur/Human Hybrids, Dr Alan Grant and Dr Ellie Sattler are Claire Dearing's parents, Gen, Genetic Engineering, High School, I began writing this before Fallen Kingdom came out, I'm sorry to break up the OTP but I had to in order to make the fic work, Jurassic Park - Freeform, Jurassic World, Kid Claire, Kid Fic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Please heed chapter warnings in the chapter notes, Pre-Jurassic World, Sibling Bonding, Social Dynamics, Teenage Claire, ZERO SPOILERS for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom so you're safe, a cameo from everyone's favourite mathematician Dr Ian Malcolm, background ships, but she took her stepfather's name of Dearing, so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should, spoilers for Jurassic Park and the first Jurassic World - ignores the other films okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-05 14:22:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15172586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: Claire Dearing is adopted. But that's not the big secret. Her ancestryis.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Started this well before Jurassic World 2, but it fell to the wayside for a while. Having seen the second JW film, I was inspired to pick it up again.
> 
> It won't be all that long - only 2 or 3 chapters. But then I might or might not write a sequel covering the events of JW, depending on whether I still have JW fever by the time this fic is finished. We'll see what happens.

** Hybrid **

** Chapter One **

Claire discovered the truth of her… _ancestry_ … when she was ten years old.

It had been her Dad – not her stepfather of three years, but Claire’s actual, mostly-absent-on-dinosaur-digs-these-days Dad – who had sat her down and finally told her the truth about who she was and where she came from, and why she never quite fit in no matter how hard she tried.

“Now, Claire,” he’d said, very serious, and a little awkward, “your Mom and I think that you’re old enough to hear the truth of who, and what, you are.”

Claire had been sitting on the chair opposite her Dad’s at the kitchen table, in the house that had been her grandparents before her Dad had inherited it, before Claire was even born. These days, it was used only rarely; Claire’s Dad was away for most of the year. Claire was used to the place being dusty whenever she came to visit, and her Dad’s things still being packed away in suitcases, ready to go.

As her Dad spoke, she’d been jiggling her legs around, all restless movement even when seated. Her Dad’s words left her more confused than anything.

“What are you talking about?” 

Claire’s Dad had paused for a moment.

“Have you ever wondered why you’re… different, from the other children?”

Claire’s legs stopped jiggling. She went still, all her attention trained on her father. He went on, his voice careful.

“Why you’re stronger, faster, capable of doing things no one else can? Why everyone around you seems to operate on an instruction manual you were never given?”

“ _Yes_ ,” said Claire, almost prayerfully. She was sitting on the edge of her chair, her fingers gripping at the seat so hard that it made them hurt.

Nothing, in that moment, could have torn her attention away from her Dad.

He paused again.

“Well,” he said. Stopped, and started again. “A number of years ago – eight years ago, now – your Mom and I were asked to visit a theme park by an eccentric old man named John Hammond…”

Claire listened in increasing bewilderment as the story unfolded, nearly too fantastical to believe. But her Dad’s expression was grave – he believed every one of the words he was choosing with care.

Claire listened until he was finished.

“But what does all this have to do with me?” she asked, sitting very still, every muscle primed, ready for – she didn’t even know what, yet. But there was a sense of foreboding growing in her, some idea that she wasn’t going to like what her Dad had to say, and that kind of emotion always made her want to snarl and tear something to pieces.

But Claire had stopped doing that by the time she was seven, so she only stayed very still, and waited for the answer.

“When we were there on the island, we found a child.” 

Her Dad’s eyes met hers, and didn’t look away. She didn’t understand at first, but as he continued to speak, she began to. 

“She was only about two years old, this child, but she was already mobile – and not in the uncertain, wobbly way that most toddlers move. This girl moved with _purpose_. I started to walk towards her, afraid that the raptors would get her if I left her there, wondering how a child had ended up in the park… and she tilted her head to look at me, and let out the same sound that the raptors made. That was when I realised – Dr Wu hadn’t just been experimenting with _dinosaur_ DNA in that lab of his.”

Claire stared at him.

“That girl was you, Claire,” said her Dad. His expression was solemn, willing her to comprehend. Claire wasn’t sure that she wanted to.

“I wasn’t sure what to do next. But in the end, you were a child. And even if you did have dinosaur DNA, you were still human. Your Mom and I couldn’t leave you there. So we took you with us.”

There was a long silence.

“You’re saying… you’re saying I’m not human.”

“Oh, you’re human,” said her Dad. “You’ve just got… a little something extra.”

Without meaning to, a hissing snarl slipped free from Claire. She watched her Dad control his flinch, the way he always did when she made that kind of noise – and it suddenly all fell into place, why he’d always had to suppress a flinch to begin with.

Raptors had tried to _eat_ him – raptors who had made the same sounds Claire did. And every time she let out a trill, or a hiss, or a snarl, it scared him.

“Am I a monster?” asked Claire. She felt like something inside her chest was tearing apart, vicious and aching.

“No, no. Claire, listen to me.” Her Dad reached out to put a hand on the top of her head in a gesture meant to comfort. He met her eyes. “Being human – it’s not just about what you’re born.” 

“Made, you mean,” Claire muttered.

“Born or made, it doesn’t matter. Being human isn’t just about DNA. It’s a choice. One you make every day. To do the good thing, the kind thing – the _right_ thing. I’ve known men who were far less human than you are, Claire.”

“But this is why – this is why people are so hard for me to understand,” said Claire.

Her Dad didn’t try to sugarcoat things.

“Yes.” 

Claire dug her fingernails into her palms, wondering if perhaps they should have been claws. If maybe, things would have been easier if she’d been more velociraptor, not less.

Because for all that Claire got into fights, and couldn’t sit still half the time, and didn’t understand what made other people tick… she _cared_. She always cared. Sometimes she cared so much that it felt like there was an empty, gaping chasm inside her heart. 

There was a gulf between Claire and every other human being in the world, and if everything her Dad had said was true… well, it didn’t look like that would change, any time soon.

Claire let out a low keening sound, only realising she’d done it a moment later.

“Come here, kiddo,” said her Dad, his expression soft and sad. Claire slipped off her chair and went to him. He pulled her close to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. It helped a little, but not nearly as much as Claire would have liked.

“I’m sorry,” said her Dad, into her hair. “I’m so sorry, Claire.”

* * *

Claire went home on Tuesday.

Her Dad was heading off on another dig, but he ruffled her hair, waited for her to puff herself up in outrage at the gesture, and right before her Mom’s car pulled up in the driveway he said, “Don’t let it get you down, kid.”

They both knew what he meant.

One the way home, Claire’s Mom was all careful glances in the rear-view mirror. Claire said nothing.

“So,” said her Mom, finally. “Your Dad said on the phone that he told you about, well, your origins.”

“You mean that I’m part-dinosaur,” Claire said. 

Her Mom’s face twisted into an expression which was both pained and sympathetic at once.

“Oh, baby,” was all that she said. “It’ll be okay.”

Claire finally snapped.

“How could it possibly be _okay?_ ” she yelled, an undertone of screeching _other_ to her voice, and this time she knew exactly what that _other_ was. She took a deep breath, and when she next spoke, her voice was entirely human.

“Do David or Karen know?”

Claire’s Mom was silent for a moment.

“No, they don’t. And I think it’s best they never do.”

“But Karen’s my _sister!_ ” 

“Stepsister,” said Claire’s Mom. 

Claire glared at the rear-view mirror. Her Mom noticed.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, honey. I’ve never been gladder about anything than the relationship you have with Karen. But people… they can surprise you, in ways you never thought possible. Sometimes that’s good. But not always. I don’t want you to be surprised by a negative reaction from Karen, that’s all.”

Claire kicked the back of her Mom’s seat.

“She wouldn’t act like that,” Claire said, but doubt was creeping in. “…would she?”

“I don’t know,” said Claire’s Mom. “But you can’t tell her, just in case. Baby, if anyone found out the truth they’d want to study you in a lab, maybe even experiment on you.”

Claire swallowed back a snarl. Instead, after a moment of silence, she said,

“Am I like them, Mom? The raptors, I mean.”

“You’re my beautiful, _human_ daughter, Claire.”

“ _Mom_. Answer me. Please.”

Claire’s Mom sighed. 

“Sometimes you remind me of them,” she admitted. “When you look at something a certain way, or play soccer with your cousins and go chasing after the ball, or when you make the wrong kind of noise.”

“Oh.”

“But most of the time, I just look at you and see, well, you.” Her Mom smiled a little. “I know it’s a big thing to get your head around, and life won’t always be easy for you because of it. It’s part of who you are, and nothing can change that. But you’re far, far more human than dinosaur, Claire.”

Claire stared out the car window so that she didn’t have to meet her Mom’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.

Over the next few days Claire was quieter and more snappish than usual. Her Mom watched her with a wistful gaze, but didn’t comment on her behaviour.

Claire was outside, crouched among the long plants near the far end of the yard, when Karen exited the house through the back door. That was different. Karen usually didn’t go outside unless she had to, too busy doing who-knew-what and playing loud music in her room. Claire stayed very still, and watched as Karen scanned the yard, her face set in a frown.

“Claire! I know you’re out here!” Karen finally yelled. “Come out for a second! And don’t you dare leap out at me!”

Claire thought for a moment about ambushing her sister anyway. Instead she took off the khaki-green hat she was wearing, and raised her head.

Karen spotted Claire’s red hair immediately, and from there, was able to outline the rest of Claire’s form, clad in varying shades of green.

“Claire.” Her voice was amused, but chiding. “What is it with you and ambushing anyone who walks into the yard?”

Claire only shrugged, and wondered if it was her raptor ancestry that made this particular game so appealing.

Karen sighed loudly, and began picking her way through the yard towards Claire. Finally Karen was standing next to where Claire was crouched. Karen looked down at her.

“You want to tell me what’s going on? You haven’t been yourself since you got back from visiting Dr Grant.”

Claire was silent for a long time, wondering what to tell Karen. Finally she settled on the least upsetting truth she’d been told.

“I’m adopted.”

Karen’s eyes went round in surprise.

“Wait, really? Then who are your biological parents?”

“Dinosaurs,” said Claire, knowing she wouldn’t be believed.

“Very funny.” Karen made a face. “Who are they really?”

Claire shrugged a second time. 

“I don’t think Mom and Dad actually know.”

“So this is why you’ve been in a funk?” 

To Claire’s surprise, Karen sank down into the long grass beside Claire. 

“I don’t know why you like it out here, there’s ants everywhere,” Karen complained, before her face smoothed into a more serious expression. “Claire. You know we all love you, right? Even when you’re annoying. Astonishing, but true.”

Claire stared out across the expanse of yard, and didn’t answer.

“You’re still my sister, and Mom and Dr Grant are still your Mom and Dad. Just because you’re adopted doesn’t mean anything. I mean – technically we’re only stepsisters, but you’re still the little sister I always wanted. Blood isn’t what makes real family. I can’t believe I’m going to say something so sappy, but it’s _love_ which makes people family.”

After a moment, Claire said, “Your Grandma doesn’t think I’m family.” 

Claire had tried calling Karen’s Grandma ‘Grandma’ herself, once – she’d been excited at the thought of having a Grandma of her own, seeing as both her Mom and Dad’s parents were dead. But Karen’s Grandma had looked down at Claire in disapproval and some other emotion which Claire couldn’t identify, and said, “That would be Mrs Dearing to you, child.” 

Karen’s face did something complicated.

“Yeah, but Grandma can be a bit of a bitch,” she said, and Claire gasped. “Oh, don’t look so scandalised, Claire. It’s true and you know it.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say,” said Claire.

“Since when are you nice?” 

“I _try_ ,” said Claire, feeling offended. “I’m just not always very good at it. But I want to be.”

Karen laughed.

“Well, you’d better keep practicing, because you’re not there yet,” she said, but her laugh trailed off into a sigh. “Honestly, Claire. No one important is going to care that you’re adopted.”

Claire looked up at her.

“Even if my parents were dinosaurs?”

“What is it with you and dinosaurs today?” Karen made a face. “Yes, even if your parents were dinosaurs.”

Claire wasn’t usually very demonstrative, which was probably why Karen looked so surprised when Claire threw her arms around her in a hug.

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Karen, hugging her back. “Now come on, let’s go inside. There are way too many bugs out here.”

“David says you could go outside more.”

“Dad says a lot of things I don’t listen to,” said Karen, which was true. 

Claire stood up at the same time Karen did, and watched as Karen dusted herself off.

“If you come inside with me, I’ll watch a video tape with you,” said Karen.

Claire brightened.

“Can we watch _Jem and the Holograms_?”

Karen heaved a melodramatic sigh, but said, “I _guess_ we could watch _Jem and the Holograms_. Are you going to come inside or not?”

“Okay.”

Together, the two girls walked back towards the house. Claire felt a lot better after Karen’s reassurances – but remembering what her Mom had said about people finding out the truth, she didn’t tell Karen that she’d been honest when she said that some of her parents were dinosaurs.

A thought struck Claire, and she wondered, for the first time, who her human parents were – because if she was human as well as dinosaur, then she had to have parents who were human, as well.

Claire wasn’t sure she wanted to know who they were, though; not when her parents had been willing for their daughter to be a part-dinosaur experiment. They probably weren’t very nice people.

* * *

Somehow, after discovering the truth of her… heritage, Claire became fascinated with dinosaurs.

She read every dinosaur book she could get her hands on, and soon became a veritable encyclopaedia of dinosaur information. Before long she knew dozens of dinosaur facts: the differences between dinosaurs and other life-forms which existed at the same time (pterosaurs, for example); that dinosaurs walked with an upright stance, rather than the sprawling one of lizards and crocodiles; the exact configuration of a therapod’s hip-bones. 

Every time Claire went to the library or the bookstore, she came away with more dinosaur books. The older she got, the more complex the books became. But Claire kept her interest in dinosaurs a secret, unknown to anyone but her family. She never talked about it; only Mom and David and Karen and Dad knew about the collection of dinosaur books accumulating on her bookshelves.

“Your Dad would be proud,” said Claire’s Mom, once, watching Claire with a wistful little smile. “He’d say we’ll make a palaeontologist of you yet.”

“That’s not why I read them,” said Claire, looking anywhere but at her Mom.

Her Mom’s soft, “I know,” wasn’t of much comfort.

That summer Karen got her driver’s licence, and to celebrate, she offered to take Claire to the museum.

“You can stare at dinosaurs to your heart’s content,” she said, teasing Claire a little.

Claire wasn’t sure about the idea, but she agreed. Two days later, they went to the museum.

The museum turned out to be hosting a travelling exhibit, full of dinosaur displays and casts of dinosaur fossils, which had been assembled into skeletons which filled the vast main exhibition hall.

Claire stared up at them, feeling unsettled for no clear reason she could understand.

“Pretty cool, aren’t they?” asked Karen, into the silence.

Claire stared at the nearest skeleton.

“I think it’s creepy,” she said at last. “You wouldn’t put a person in a museum like this. Why is it okay to put a dinosaur here?”

Karen laughed, as though Claire had said something funny.

“Dinosaurs aren’t people, Claire. It’s completely different.”

“But what if they _were_ people?” Claire said, thinking of her Dad’s descriptions of the intelligence the raptors at Jurassic Park had displayed. “What if they could think, just like us?”

“You’ve got some imagination,” said Karen, her voice amused, and a little patronising. 

Claire stared straight ahead, her lips pulling away from her teeth. Something hot and angry crawled around in her chest.

Karen seemed to sense that she’d said the wrong thing.

“Hey.” She nudged Claire. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Claire made no attempt to disguise her displeasure. 

Karen frowned.

“Claire, don’t tell me you’re actually upset about this.”

“It’s – it’s unseemly.”

“Unseemly?” Karen echoed. “Where’d you pull that word from?”

Claire glared at nothing in particular.

“I _read_.”

Karen put her hands on Claire’s shoulders, and looked down at her in a way that was meant to come across as reassuring. Instead, Claire just felt condescended to.

“Claire. Look, they’re not people, okay? They’re just animals. Impressive animals, maybe: but humans have created an entire society, and dinosaurs weren’t able to do that.” There was a short silence. “Claire. Why are you so upset?”

Claire debated with herself for a minute.

But in the end, she trusted Karen more than ever.

“I’m part-dinosaur,” said Claire, and waited. She hoped that Karen believed her.

But Karen only rolled her eyes.

“Claire–”

“It’s _true_ ,” Claire insisted. “Scientists found dinosaur DNA in mosquitoes that had been fossilised in amber, and they used it to create dinosaurs! Only the dinosaurs got loose, so everyone who worked there left the island, but no one’s allowed to talk about it!” Claire paused for a second to suck in a breath before plunging on. “Mum and Dad said they found me in a lab on the island, and I was part-dinosaur, but it’s a _secret!_ ”

“Riiight,” said Karen, clearly not believing Claire at all.

Hurt and betrayal surged in Claire’s heart, manifesting as white-hot rage.

Claire kicked Karen in the shin hard enough to hurt, ignored Karen’s yelp of pain, and took off running.

“ _Claire!_ ” Karen shouted after her, but Claire didn’t stop.

Claire had always been good at running. Other people were clumsy, and couldn’t go very fast. But Claire was both fast and agile, and she had excellent reflexes.

Claire ran through a doorway, and ducked down behind one of the displays. There, she sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, rested her head on her arms, and closed her eyes as tears slid from beneath her closed lids.

She’d really thought that Karen would believe her. It was _Karen_.

Half an hour later, still sitting there stewing, she heard footsteps. She stayed very still.

The footsteps stopped by the display.

“Claire,” said Karen’s voice. She sounded pissed off, but for once Claire didn’t care. “Claire, I know you’re there. I can see your shoes. They’re bright pink with purple hearts. I seriously doubt anyone else in here has shoes like that. Now come out.”

Claire stayed where she was, in silence. Karen let out a frustrated breath.

“ _Claire_. We’re going home. _Now_.”

Claire only gave a low, inhuman snarl. She heard Karen jump, and gasp.

“Claire? Was – was that _you?_ ” 

Claire said, “Go away.”

A moment later, Karen’s face appeared in the gap between the display and the wall, peering in at Claire.

“How did you even get _in_ there?” Karen asked, more to herself than Claire. “Claire, you need to come out so we can go home.”

“No.”

Karen out another frustrated exhale.

“Fine. You know what? There’s a pay phone outside. I’m going to call Mom and tell her all about how you’ve been behaving today. And I’m never taking you anywhere again.”

Karen disappeared from the gap between the display and the wall, and Claire heard her stomp off. 

Claire rested her chin on her arms again.

Twenty minutes later, there were footsteps again, and they stopped next to the display.

“Claire?” Karen’s voice was soft and careful. She sounded a little dazed. “I talked to Mom.”

Claire didn’t say anything.

“She told me – she told me you were telling the truth. About everything. That it really happened just as you said it did.” Karen exhaled, and was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

After a moment, Claire moved. She crawled out from behind the display, and looked up and around at Karen.

Claire was much better at reading people than she used to be, and Karen appeared… shaken. To the core. She was looking at Claire as though she’d never quite looked at her properly, before, and was seeing her with new eyes.

“You can’t tell anyone,” said Claire, still wary.

“I know.” Karen stared at Claire. “Mom told me. Even knowing it’s the truth, it’s hard to get my head around it. You’re so…”

“Weird?”

Karen huffed a laugh. 

“I was going to say _normal_ , but you’re right, that’s not exactly true. _Human_ , I guess I meant.”

Claire shrugged.

“Dad says I _am_ human, just with a little something extra. He says that being human is a choice we make. It’s not about what we’re born.”

Karen’s eyebrows crept up her forehead.

“Huh,” she said. “That’s… pretty deep.”

“Are we going home now?” asked Claire.

“Yeah,” said Karen. She shook her head. “You want to look in the gift shop on the way out?”

Claire nodded.

The gift shop was near the main doors, off the foyer. Karen and Claire had a look around. There was a heap of dinosaur merchandise, including small dinosaur models. One by one, Claire picked them up and peered at the tiny tag attached to each one. The name of the dinosaur was printed on the tag.

One of the dinosaur models had the phrase _Velociraptor mongoliensis_ printed on its tag.

Claire stilled, and stared at it for a long time.

Karen put a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?”

“This is a velociraptor.”

“A velociraptor?”

Claire looked around at the other occupants of the gift shop, and then back up at Karen.

“Can I have it?”

“How much is it?” Karen checked the price, and considered the question for a moment. “Okay. But only if you help me with my chores for the next week.”

“Deal.”

Claire left the museum clutching a bag with the model raptor inside. Back in the car, they drove in silence for a while. Finally Karen spoke.

“So you’re part-dinosaur.”

“Part velociraptor. Dad just calls them raptors.”

“Wait.” Karen glanced away from the road for a second. “That toy you got? It’s… the same kind of dinosaur that helped make you?”

Claire nodded.

“Wow.” Karen looked back at the road, and laughed a little. “You know, this actually explains a lot.”

“I know,” said Claire. 

“I don’t mean in a bad way,” Karen hastened to add. 

“I know,” Claire said again.

“You and Mom said something about an island of dinosaurs?” Karen asked, and she looked honestly curious.

So Claire told the story, as her Dad had told it to her, and Karen listened.

“That’s… amazing,” she said, when Claire was done, and they were almost home. “And scary. I mean… what if one of the dinosaurs escaped the island?”

“Bad things would happen.”

“Well, obviously.” Karen bit her lip. “This is all so much to take in.”

“But you won’t tell anybody, right?” Claire asked, feeling worried.

Karen glanced at her, and smiled in a way that made Claire feel better.

“Hey, no – of course not. You’re my kid sister, and nothing’s going to change that. Nothing, okay?”

“Okay,” said Claire.

They pulled into the driveway, then, and Claire got out of the car, still clutching the gift shop bag with the model raptor in it.

As soon as they were inside, Karen pulled Claire into a hug. 

“I meant what I said,” said Karen, her voice soft. “You’re my sister, and sisters stick together.”

Claire said nothing, but buried her face in Karen’s shoulder, and hugged her back. Claire could feel her eyes prickling like she wanted to cry, but she didn’t understand why – she was _happy_.

Karen let Claire go, and Claire stepped back. Karen smiled at her again, and Claire smiled in return, because that was what you did when someone else smiled at you.

“So if you’re part-dinosaur,” said Karen, “does that mean you have, like, superpowers or something?”

Claire laughed, half-surprised, half-delighted by the thought.

“I guess so.”

“Tell me about them,” Karen suggested.

So Claire did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER WARNINGS: mild sexual harassment in this chapter, and a response of mild-to-moderate violence (non-graphic) to the harassment. For those who want to know specifics, see chapter end notes.

** Hybrid **

** Chapter Two **

Claire knew that her dreams weren’t like other people’s. Other people dreamed of flying, or of aliens, or all kinds of things. But when Claire dreamed, her dreams were different.

Claire dreamed of hunting in dry, arid terrain. She moved stealthily, silently, through the dunes. She knew that she wasn’t alone – she could smell the rest of her pack nearby. Occasionally one of her pack-mates let out one of the short, cough-like barks that Claire would recognise anywhere as belonging to her own kind.

At this point in the dream Claire sometimes woke up, feeling wistful and alone. But on other occasions the dream played all the way through. When it did, Claire and her pack hunted their prey, before feasting on it. 

Claire would wake up with the memory of the taste of blood in her mouth, and a feeling of satisfaction which she knew didn’t come from her human side. Claire never got much sleep after one of _those_ dreams, too troubled by what they implied about her nature. Most of her waking life was spent trying to fit in, to be normal – and Claire was _good_ at that, by now – but her dreams suggested that deep down, she wanted something else entirely.

Or maybe it was just that she spent so many of her waking hours suppressing her raptor instincts, and they needed an outlet _somewhere_. All the same, it was… disturbing.

Claire sat at her desk, and tried not to sigh as her teacher droned on. Claire was easily bored, making intuitive leaps that the rest of her classmates sometimes couldn’t, her brain going at a mile a minute. But the rest of the class learned at a slower pace, which meant that sometimes – often – Claire had to sit still and pretend to be paying attention to something she already knew off by heart.

Claire much preferred class discussions, where she could listen to other people’s perspectives and offer her own thoughts on whatever topic was being discussed. Most of her classmates hated being asked to actively participate, however, and it was only a handful of students, Claire included, who led the discussions.

School wasn’t cool, learning was supposed to be a drag, etcetera – no one was meant to _enjoy_ going to school. But Claire did. Next to the dance classes and the martial arts classes that burned off her excessive energy and instinctive need to _run_ , to _hunt_ , school was Claire’s favourite thing. 

Not that she’d ever openly admit that. She knew all too well that she’d be labelled a geek or a nerd if she did, and Claire didn’t need that kind of social ostracism, thank you – she’d had enough of it in elementary school, before she’d learned how to act like everybody else. 

High school, Claire figured, was a time period in which people gave in to their inherited instincts more than any other. Something about the way that the teenage brain was developing, she supposed – teenagers were old enough to start practising more sophisticated behaviour than before, but not emotionally developed enough to override the instincts hard-wired into them. So everyone moved in packs, and targeted the weakest links in the social chain – social hierarchy became intensely important in a way it hadn’t been in childhood, as everyone developed a competitive streak and a desire for one-upmanship. It wasn’t that the people involved lacked kindness or compassion, exactly… more that their natural survival instincts really began kicking in, and it suddenly became necessary to be on top, so that you weren’t eaten alive.

Puberty and adolescence were difficult for everyone, Claire knew. But still, she was pretty sure most people didn’t have the sort of trouble she did. 

After all, most people were developing into human beings, and that was it – sure, humans had some hunting instincts, no matter how much society tried to deny it; human beings had been hunting other animals for a large part of their evolution. 

But they weren’t carnivores, _predators_ , and that was a crucial difference. There was a part of Claire’s brain which insisted that everyone who wasn’t _pack_ was either _prey,_ or _competition_ …

…or even worse, a _potential mate_.

Claire knew that nearly everyone else her age was discovering the opposite sex in a way they never had before, and going through all kinds of emotions and experiencing instincts that had never been active up until now. That was normal, she’d been told, and when she observed her classmates, she believed it.

But where other girls smiled and twirled their hair around their fingers, sending demure glances up at boys through their eyelashes, Claire’s instincts were… different. A _lot_ different. 

Claire’s musings were interrupted by the sound of the school bell, signalling the end of class. She gave a sigh of relief, and began gathering her books and writing utensils. She filed out of the classroom with everyone else, and headed to her locker.

She was putting her books away when a voice she recognised said, “Hey, Claire, isn’t it?”

_ Oh no _ , Claire thought, and turned to look at the new arrival.

“Josh,” she said, trying to give him a friendly smile. 

Josh smiled, leaning against the locker next to Claire’s, his hair falling into his eyes. The sight stirred conflicting emotions within Claire. On the one hand, there was the desire to impress him, to make herself seem like a worthy prospective partner. 

On the other… well, Claire was part-raptor, and Claire was as driven by a desire to be in charge as she was by any kind of… romantic desire.

(She refused to use the phrase _mating instinct_ , even inside her own head, but the words still appeared in her brain. Claire did her best to banish them. She was _human_ , not some animal.)

One of Claire’s female classmates walked past them at that moment, made eye contact for a second with Josh, and smiled. 

Claire ignored the fact that her instincts were screaming at her to drive away the competition, this _interloper in her territory_. 

Josh wasn’t her boyfriend, Claire reminded herself, and even if he had been, it _still_ wasn’t socially appropriate to fight to the death any girl who happened to look at him appreciatively. Josh would not be impressed. He would probably be scared off, as any reasonable person would.

The reminder didn’t help very much. Claire’s expression edged further away from _pleasant smile_ towards _baring of teeth_.

Josh didn’t seem to notice – or maybe he put it down to nervousness.

“I was wondering,” he said, still leaning against the locker, which provoked a flash of irritation in Claire, because he was in her personal space, “if you’d like to see a movie this Friday?” 

Josh smiled, a flash of brilliantly-white teeth.

By now, Claire had learned not to respond to that expression as a threat, no matter how wide or toothy the smile. But it was still difficult to smile back, sometimes, particularly when she was feeling annoyed, as she was now.

The thing was, attracted though she was to Josh… Claire was driven and ambitious, determined to do well, while Josh was a bit of a troublemaker, and slacked off during classes. They didn’t really have anything in common.

…not to mention, Claire didn’t like people looming into her personal space without her giving them some kind of permission first, whether it was spoken permission or non-verbal. The fact that Josh hadn’t stopped, hadn’t noticed her body language at all… didn’t bode well.

“That’s… very flattering,” said Claire, choosing her words carefully. “But I really don’t think we’re compatible.”

Josh grinned, and moved further into Claire’s space. Her instincts started saying _threat_ , and Claire stiffened.

“Not compatible? Baby, I can show you just how compatible we could be.”

“Please leave me alone,” said Claire, her voice showing the same tense strain as her posture. “I’m not interested.”

But Josh didn’t move out of Claire’s space. Nor did he lose the grin. Claire glared at him, going from _annoyed_ to _angry_ within a couple of heartbeats.

“Your words say no, but the rest of you is saying yes,” he said, and put a hand on her shoulder in order to… well, Claire didn’t actually know what he’d been going to do next, because her instincts were still screaming _threat_ , more loudly than ever, and Claire…

…reacted. Without even thinking about it.

She came back to herself a second later to find that she’d smashed the door of her locker into Josh’s face. He was now standing several feet away, hunched over with his hands cupped over his nose, making sounds of pain.

“ _Jesus!_ ” he was saying, in-between pained moans. Everyone else in the hallway was staring between him and Claire, their expressions various shades of appalled or shocked. 

After a second of deliberation, Claire shut her locker door.

“Just for the record, the rest of me was saying _get the hell away from me_ ,” she told Josh, turning to face him. “Not _yes_. If you can’t tell the difference, then I suggest you be less… forward, in future.”

“ _My God, what a bitch_ ,” Claire heard one of the other guys standing in the hallway mutter. She sent him a bright, hard smile that wasn’t really a smile at all, and turned and stalked down the hallway. People scurried to get out of her way, still staring at her like they couldn’t believe what Claire had just done.

But Claire was not about to let herself be manhandled by some boy who thought he could override her wishes. Any attraction she’d felt for him had died the moment he’d tried to dominate her – even if he hadn’t understood that was what he’d done.

Halfway to the bus-stop by now, Claire let herself sigh. If her Mom heard about this, she’d be in so much trouble – not for standing up for herself, but for being unnecessarily violent about it. Her Dad, though…

He’d probably give a grim smile, and say _that’s my girl_ , if he ever heard the story. 

Claire shook her head, the thought bringing an unwilling smile to her lips. Her anger was fading, now, leaving the cold realisation that she’d probably messed up. If Josh or anyone else reported her to the school administration, Claire could be in real trouble. Hopefully her near-spotless high-school academic record and high grades would speak for themselves. 

The bus ride home was uneventful. When she got home, Claire made herself a snack, before retreating to her bedroom to complete her homework assignments. Claire’s room was neat and tidy, everything in its place, everything in order. Claire’s desk sat against one wall; a bookcase sat against another, and her bed sat in the corner, facing the wardrobe. 

Claire ran her eyes over the bookcase. There was an entire shelf dedicated to dinosaur books, now: some of them written by her Dad, others written by experts in the field whose work had been recommended by him. Sitting on the top of the bookcase, alongside photo-frames and other paraphernalia, was the toy raptor Karen had bought Claire at the museum, years earlier.

Claire looked at it, and her mouth twisted. For all that she tried so very hard to be human… there were times that she failed, and she knew it. 

That night Karen rang, for one of their weekly catch-ups over the phone.

“So what have you been up to?” asked Karen, once she’d finished summing up her own week at work.

Claire felt herself shrug.

“A boy at school tried to ask me out today.”

“Oh?”

“I told him I wasn’t interested. He refused to take that as an answer.”

“Did you report him to someone?” asked Karen, sounding mildly concerned.

“Actually, I hit him in the face with the door to my locker,” said Claire, trying to sound as though this had been a perfectly reasonable course of action.

“ _Claire!_ ” 

Claire tried to defend herself. 

“It was instinct, I just reacted. He was in my personal space, it was very confronting.”

There was a disbelieving silence from Karen’s end of the phone.

“Karen?”

“Sometimes I think you’re growing up into a normal human being,” said Karen, “and then you prove me wrong.”

“What was I supposed to do? Let him touch me?” Claire demanded.

She heard Karen take a deep breath, like she was silently asking the universe to send her calm emotions.

“ _Not_ smash your locker door into his face,” said Karen, when she resumed speaking. “Yell at him. Report him to a teacher. There are appropriate and inappropriate responses, Claire–”

“You sound like Mom,” Claire muttered.

“–and that was definitely an _in_ appropriate one.”

“Alright, fine.” Claire gave in. “I shouldn’t have done it. I know. My instincts just… took over.”

“Well, you have to learn to control yourself,” said Karen. Claire stifled a sigh.

“I know. You don’t need to keep telling me.”

There was silence for a short while.

“You said he tried to touch you,” said Karen. Claire was grateful for the subject change. “Tried to touch you _how?_ Are you okay?Does Mom need to contact the school?”

“Well, he started off with grabbing me by the shoulder, and saying, _your words say no, but the rest of you is saying yes_ , and started reaching for me with his other hand… which was when I hit him with the locker door,” said Claire.

“ _Ugh_ ,” said Karen.

“I _know_.”

“He sounds like a creep.”

Claire sighed.

“I’d actually… kind of liked him, before today,” she admitted. “He’s… well, cute. But with that attitude…” She sighed again.

“You can definitely do better,” said Karen. “Anyone who says something like what he said obviously has no real respect for you. Someone who won’t listen to a _no_ in one circumstance won’t listen to a _no_ any other time, either – and that’s not what you want in a relationship.”

“Definitely not,” said Claire, in wholehearted agreement. “Besides – I’m not really sure about this whole dating thing, anyway. How likely is it that I’m going to stay together forever with someone I met in high school? And boys are always trying to impress girls by being, I don’t know, domineering – I think that the romance-novel word for it is _masterful_ –”

“There’s nothing wrong with romance novels,” Karen protested, but Claire went on talking.

“–and I need someone who will be a genuine _partner_ , as in an equal, not someone who’ll try to dominate me or let me walk all over them,” said Claire. “It’s about balance.”

Silence fell.

Karen broke it by asking, “So what _would_ impress you, in a boy?”

“I’m not sure I even know,” said Claire.

“You know, I was watching this nature documentary last week,” said Karen, apparently apropos of nothing, and Claire’s brow furrowed. “About birds. One species had this complicated mating dance to attract females, and I thought, well, birds are descended from dinosaurs, and _you’re_ part-dinosaur–”

“Please don’t finish that sentence the way I think you’re going to finish it.”

“–so then,” said Karen, and Claire could hear her smile in her voice, “I wondered: would _you_ be impressed by a complicated mating dance? Is that what you’re looking for in a boy?”

Claire let out an irritated huff of breath.

“You are the worst sister.”

“I’m the best sister,” Karen corrected, still sounding amused. 

Claire sighed, and glanced at the clock. It was getting late, and she had to get up early the next morning.

“I have to go,” Claire said. “But I’ll remember how _helpful_ you were for this conversation. Have fun being a corporate drudge.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” said Karen. “Should I advise any potential suitors to hire a choreographer? Dress in eye-catching costumes? Develop a good sense of rhythm? Claire–”

Claire hung up the phone, rolling her eyes at her sister’s joking questions.

The worst part was, she wasn’t even entirely sure Karen was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specifics of chapter warnings: In this chapter a boy hits on Claire and attempts to touch her inappropriately, and she slams her locker door into his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes a cameo from everyone's favourite mathematician! 
> 
> It is also the final chapter of this particular fic - but there should be a little more in this 'verse for me to work on.

** Hybrid **

** Chapter Three **

When Claire was in her senior year of high school and not that far off from graduating, her Dad took her out for lunch one weekend.

Something was bothering him, Claire could tell, even though he was trying to put on an unconcerned face. Finally she asked,

“Dad, what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing, nothing.” Her Dad tried to smile reassuringly, but failed.

“That’s a lie,” said Claire. “I can tell that something’s eating at you. I’m not giving up until you tell me.”

Her Dad sighed, and met her eyes, looking weary.

“InGen and a different company, Masrani Global, are planning to open a new dinosaur park.”

“ _What?_ ” Claire stared at him.

“I know, it’s sheer idiocy,” said her Dad, his voice low and angry. “Didn’t they learn enough from the last one? Dinosaurs are dangerous, and Ian was right – there are always factors you can’t predict, problems you can’t contain. These are animal which died out millions of years ago – how can we possibly deduce enough to control them, make them safe for the public? It’s a disaster waiting to happen.” He rubbed a hand over his face.

Claire sat, stricken.

“How did you find out?” she asked at last.

Her Dad let out a frustrated sound.

“They want my advice, as one of the survivors of the previous park. And as a dinosaur expert in my own right.”

“Are you going to advise them?”

Claire’s Dad snorted.

“I’ve written a paper called _Playing God: why resurrecting the most efficient predators ever to walk the Earth is sheer stupidity._ Emailed it off to them last week.”

Claire couldn’t contain her surprised laugh. She sobered a second later.

“Well, I suppose that gets the message across.”

“They want me to visit the new park they’ve built. Inspect it,” said her Dad. “Mr Masrani’s agent even said something about a permanent consultant position with the park, but I don’t want to be anywhere near it.”

Claire didn’t answer. After a moment, her Dad quirked an eyebrow, and waited.

Claire spoke into the expectant silence.

“It’s just… I’ve always wished that I could meet the animals which are… part of me, I guess.”

“Claire…”

Claire looked down. 

“I know it’s silly, but–”

“It’s not silly at all,” said her Dad.

Claire looked up again.

“It’s only natural to wonder about where you came from, about where you belong,” her Dad went on. “Everyone does. But I’m not sure you’re going to get any answers to those questions, even if you could meet a dinosaur.”

Claire found herself gripping her cutlery hard enough to make it bend. She quickly put it down.

“Shouldn’t I,” she said, and she had trouble keeping her voice even, “be the one who gets to decide that?”

Her Dad was silent for a while. Claire stared at her plate. Then her Dad said:

“You want me to inspect the park and take you with me, don’t you.” 

Claire looked up quickly, her gaze searching his face. He looked… resigned, but fond.

“ _Could_ you?” Claire barely dared breathe as she waited for his answer.

Her Dad sighed.

“I could probably swing it, somehow. They seem pretty desperate to get my approval for the new park. Claire… is this really what you want?”

Claire nodded.

“Then… I’ll try.” Her Dad smiled suddenly, and with a burst of humour said, “You know, I never thought anything could get me to go back to that island.”

“ _Thank you_ ,” said Claire, and her fervent tone made her Dad look at her thoughtfully. “To get to see real dinosaurs – it’s my _dream_.”

Her Dad chuckled.

“We’ll see,” was all he said. “Now eat your steak before it gets cold.”

“Right,” said Claire, and she picked up her cutlery again and dug in.

Claire didn’t forget that conversation, but a couple of months passed without her hearing anything more about it. She assumed that the visit wasn’t going ahead, and tried not to feel too disappointed. 

But at her high school graduation, she was surprised to discover that it wasn’t just her Mom, David and Karen who were attending.

“ _Dad!_ ” Claire let out a delighted shriek that was barely this side of human, and rushed to greet him.

Her Dad smiled

“Come on. You didn’t think I was going to miss your graduation, did you?”

“But your job at the university–”

“It’s called family leave,” said her Dad, looking pleased with himself. “Now come here and give your old man a hug.”

In the whirlwind of yearbook signings and posing for photographs which ensued shortly afterwards, Claire didn’t once think of her Dad’s promise. But as everything was winding down, her Dad pulled an A4 cardboard folder out of his briefcase.

“Open it,” he told Claire.

Feeling curious, Claire opened the folder. Then she stared, lost for words.

“What do you think?” said her Dad.

“Oh my God!” Claire found her voice. “You did it!”

“I did,” said her Dad, and then had to stop talking as Claire half-tackled him in her excitement. “Easy, Claire,” he managed. “Maybe a bit less enthusiasm.”

Claire hastily let go, having forgotten her higher-than-normal strength in the heat of the moment.

“Sorry, Dad.”

“What’s so exciting?” asked David, an expression of tolerant amusement on his face. Dad had never liked David much, although he’d grudgingly admitted that he was a good man. David, though, had always been nothing but cordial towards Dad.

“Jurassic World?” Claire’s Mom read over her shoulder.

“Mom,” Claire began, speaking quickly, but her Mom was already turning to her Dad with a look of murder on her face. 

“Alan, tell me that’s not what it sounds like. Tell me they haven’t re-opened the park!”

“Well, not exactly,” said her Dad. At the look Claire’s Mom gave him, he admitted, “They’ve built a new one.”

The argument that followed was explosive. David stood there with his eyebrows near his hairline, not understanding a thing; but Karen, who knew about Jurassic Park, clearly worked out what Claire’s parents were talking about pretty swiftly, and stood there looking concerned.

Claire let out a frustrated growl.

“Mom!” she said, and her snappish tone of voice cut through the argument. Both her parents turned to look at her. “I’m old enough to make these kinds of decisions! I’ll be eighteen in a few months, and if you try to stop me going now I’ll just go then, when you have no legal right to stop me. Dad didn’t even want to go – I _asked_ him to get me a tour of the park. So please, just try and be reasonable.”

There was a long, tense silence.

“Claire,” said her Mom, “you don’t understand, it could be dangerous–”

“Actually, I had a look at the briefing that the park’s security sent over at my request,” Claire’s Dad interrupted, a little apologetically. “It seems like they learned a lot from the mistakes of the first park.”

Claire’s Mom looked from his apologetic face to Claire’s adamant one, and her posture sagged.

“I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I.”

“I’m sorry,” said Claire, “But this is something I have to do.”

Finally, Claire’s Mom sighed. 

“Alan, you’d better show me that briefing.”

“Is someone going to explain?” asked David. “Ellie?”

Claire’s parents exchanged glances.

“It’s kind of a long story, Dad,” said Karen, patting his arm.

“Oh, so you know whatever this is about?” asked David. “Should I be concerned?”

“I’ll explain later,” said Claire’s Mom. She tried to smile. “But right now we’re taking Claire out to dinner, the way we agreed on, to celebrate her graduation. We can… figure the rest out later.”

Claire’s Dad held out a hand for the folder she was still holding. Claire handed it over reluctantly, and he put it back in his briefcase.

On the surface, there were no problems at dinner, but Claire could feel the undercurrents of tension. Afterwards, they headed back home – even Claire’s Dad – to help explain to David about Jurassic Park, and the offer Claire and her Dad had been given to tour Jurassic World.

They carefully left out any mention of Claire’s origins. 

David sat and listened to the story, but by the end of it he was looking incredulous.

“Resurrecting dinosaurs? Really?” he said finally. “It all seems too amazing for words. Why didn’t you ever tell me, Ellie?”

Claire’s Mom shrugged helplessly.

“It was… a difficult time. I prefer not to remember it unless I have to.”

David’s expression softened, and he reached out to take her hand. Claire’s Dad watched the gesture with a pensive expression.

“I can understand why you’re upset about Claire going to this new dinosaur park,” said David. “But if they’ve taken new precautions…” He shrugged. “And Claire’s right, she’s at the age where she should be making decisions about her own life. She’s nearly an adult. Besides – this is the opportunity of a lifetime, Ellie. Try and see it that way.”

“Exactly,” said Claire’s Dad, leaning forward. “Ellie, they’re planning on charging upwards of twenty thousand dollars per visit. Opportunities like this don’t come around very often.”

“I really want to go,” Claire added.

Claire’s Mom turned to look at Karen.

“I’m surprised you haven’t put your two cents in.”

“Oh, I’m not getting involved in this,” said Karen, but at the look Claire’s Mom sent her, she gave in. “Fine. I’m pretty sure Claire will never, ever forgive you if you try to stop her from going.”

There was another tense silence.

“Alright,” Claire’s Mom said, with a sigh. “You can go. But I want you to be careful, and no stupid risks, you hear me?”

“Yes, Mom,” said Claire – and that was how, a month later, she found herself visiting Jurassic World, a year before it was due to open to the public, and before most of the world even knew that it existed.

Mr Masrani himself came to greet them the moment they landed on the island, all wide smiles.

“You will not be disappointed, Dr Grant,” he said to Claire’s Dad – and he sounded like he really meant it. “We have taken every precaution with Jurassic World. It will be a place of wonder, not terror.” 

“That’s what Hammond thought,” said Claire’s Dad, his tone a little surly. He kept glancing around at his surroundings as though waiting for dinosaurs to attack, apparently feeling on-edge just from being there on the island.

But Mr Masrani looked solemn.

“John was a man of vision, and his vision did not always line up with practicality. But I shall not waste words trying to convince you: I shall let your experience here speak for itself.”

“Right.”

Mr Masrani turned to Claire, then.

“And who is this?” he asked Claire’s Dad.

“My daughter, Claire. She’s always been very interested in dinosaurs.”

“Like father, like daughter,” said Mr Masrani, and Claire smiled politely. “Well, Miss Grant–”

“It’s Dearing,” she interrupted, but with a smile to take the sting out of the interruption. “My Mom took my stepfather’s name when she remarried, and well, I didn’t want to be the kid who stood out because she had a different name from the rest of her family.”

“I see,” said Mr Masrani. “Well, Miss Dearing, I hope that you, at least, will enjoy your time here. And perhaps you can bring your father around, eh?” 

Mr Masrani laughed a little, as though that last bit was a joke. But Claire knew it wasn’t. Not really.

She gave another polite smile.

A few minutes later, she and her Dad were whisked off by their guide. 

The tour they were given was far more thorough than the one the tourists would receive, she and her Dad were told, as they were lead through the Innovation Centre, and Claire looked around with interest at all the interactive displays. They would also get to see behind the scenes, so that Claire’s Dad was reassured that security and safety was just as important as the entertainment value of the park.

“But first, why don’t I take you to see the dinosaurs?” Alyssa – their tour guide – suggested, and Claire’s Dad twitched.

“I’m not sure–”

“Yes, please,” said Claire quickly, glancing at her Dad. He sighed, but gave in.

“Sure. That sounds… great.”

Alyssa led them to a jeep marked with the Jurassic World logo, and Claire and her Dad got in.

“I’m afraid we can’t let you inside any of the enclosures, at this point–”

“Thank God for small mercies,” Claire’s Dad muttered, but Claire heard him loud and clear, even if their guide didn’t.

They drove out to one of the gigantic enclosures, and their guide stopped the jeep just outside the fence.

“Now, this is the Brachiosaur Paddock,” said Alyssa – but Claire wasn’t paying any attention, her wide eyes trained on what lay beyond the fence.

_ Dinosaurs _ . Taller than any of the buildings she’d seen so far on the island, and longer than two buses put together, they stood eating the leaves on one of the tall trees that lined the paddock.

As Claire watched, one brachiosaur let out a long, sonorous call which vibrated inside her bones.

After a few minutes of wide-eyed wonder, she became aware that her Dad was watching her with a fond, nostalgic smile.

“They struck me like that the first time, too,” was all he said. He left out any comments on what had occurred later, for which Claire was grateful. She wanted to enjoy the moment without being reminded of the carnage of the original park.

Claire and her Dad were taken around to see all of the different enclosures that had been built, before being shown the location of each of the different buildings and facilities. Anything non-essential to the creation and care of the animals was still under construction.

“And this is the Innovation Center,” said Alyssa, as they parked outside at the centre of what would become the Amenities and Shopping Precinct. “This is the main hub of the park, containing the Central Operations Room and the Hammond Creation Lab. Once Jurassic World opens, it will contain over a hundred interactive exhibits for visitors of all ages.”

Claire looked up at the Innovation Center as she got out of the jeep. It wasn’t like any building she’d seen before, with its pyramid-like shape.

They were halfway to the Innovation Center’s front doors when the tour was interrupted.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Alan Grant,” said a voice, vaguely amused, and Claire’s Dad stopped dead in his tracks, and slowly turned around. Claire turned, too.

Behind them was a man with greying black hair who was wearing sunglasses and a smirk.

“Ian,” said Claire’s Dad, sounding surprised. He also sounded like he wasn’t sure that this newcomer, for all that he knew him, was entirely welcome.

“Still, uh, digging up dinosaurs?” the man asked, sauntering forward, his gaze moving curiously between Claire and her Dad. “In, what was it, Montana?”

“Not anymore,” said Claire’s Dad. “I’m getting too old. Took up a lecturing job at the university.”

“Well, you know what they say: you’re only as old as you feel. So about, oh, eighty, I’m guessing?” the stranger said with a grin.

“Very funny,” said Claire’s Dad. He shook hands with the other man. “What are you doing here?”

“Inspecting the new park,” said the stranger. “Jurassic World. Catchy name to it, don’t you think? But derivative.” His gaze was on Claire. “Who’s this?”

Claire’s Dad put a hand on her shoulder in a way which Claire could only describe as _protective_.

“This is my daughter, Claire.”

“Really? Well, that is interesting. Very interesting,” said the man. 

Claire’s Dad sighed.

“Claire, this is Dr Ian Malcolm,” he said, which made things suddenly clear.

“Oh,” said Claire, unsure of how to react.

“You know, they promised me I’d get lunch as soon as I got here,” said Dr Malcolm. “Why don’t we get something to eat somewhere in this fine establishment, and uh – catch up?” 

“Sounds good to me,” said Claire’s Dad, which was how they ended up being shown to the staff commissary by Alyssa. They picked a table in a corner, away from everyone else; the babble from the rest of the occupants was loud enough to mask their conversation. 

“So,” said Dr Malcolm, when the three of them were alone at the table. He had a big grin on his face. “You’re Alan’s little experiment into nature versus nurture. How’s that turning out?”

“ _Ian_ ,” said Claire’s Dad, with warning in his voice.

Dr Malcolm laughed, still grinning.

“Come on, it’s an interesting question, isn’t it?” He leaned back in his chair and looked at Claire, his eyes glinting behind his sunglasses. “Are we, uh, the sum of our DNA, or is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? Can we transcend our own genetic code, suppress our instincts and operate purely through reason? Personally, I don’t think so.”

Claire breathed in, then out.

“I’m _human_ ,” she said, keeping her voice level.

“Are you?” Dr Malcolm quirked an eyebrow. “I mean, good for you, trying to be a member of the human race, it’s an admirable ambition, but can you honestly say that _all_ of you is human?”

Claire glared at him.

“Ian, this isn’t the place–” Claire’s Dad tried to say.

“See, I don’t think you’re human, or dinosaur for that matter,” said Dr Malcolm. “Your DNA comes from two separate species, which were never meant to procreate together. Humans and dinosaurs are – _were_ – separated by 65 million years, and who knows how many biological constraints. Are the two, uh, genetically compatible? I sincerely doubt it. And yet here you are,” Dr Malcolm said with a smile. “Neither human, nor dinosaur, but something altogether new. Something that was never meant to exist.”

“Ian, that’s _enough_ ,” said Claire’s Dad, sounding angry.

Dr Malcolm glanced at him for a moment, and then looked back at Claire.

“I mean, it’s fascinating that you do,” Dr Malcolm went on. “I’m just saying, there’s never been anything like you before, although no doubt if scientists – geneticists – have their way, you won’t be the last. But you have instincts, desires, which potentially, none of us could guess at. Well. We can _guess_. But we can’t _know_.”

Claire smiled thinly.

“Can anyone ever really know another person?”

“True, true,” said Dr Malcolm, with a nod, but Claire’s words didn’t faze him at all. He kept right on going. “But I have to wonder – by attempting to emulate humanity in all aspects, are you losing something of yourself? Are you reaching your full potential? What _is_ that full potential, even?” He shrugged his shoulders. “None of us can know. And that’s what _really_ makes you interesting.”

With that, he started eating his meal.

Claire didn’t know whether to laugh, or cry.  
  


“Ignore him,” said Claire’s Dad, into the silence. “He gets like this.”

Claire saw a slight smirk touch Dr Malcolm’s lips, there and gone in a second. She said,

“I’m not sure I like you.”

Dr Malcolm grinned at her.

“I get that a lot,” he said, through a mouthful. “It’s a pretty common reaction.”

Claire narrowed her eyes at him.

“You’re like someone with a stick poking an anthill, aren’t you.”

To her surprise, Dr Malcolm laughed, loud and genuine. Heads turned in their direction at the sound.

“Smart kid, aren’t you? How do you do at school?”

“I’ve done just fine since I learnt to sit still in class.”

“Mmm, I’m sure,” said Dr Malcolm. He glanced around, waited until no one was looking at their table, and lowered his voice. “They were highly intelligent, the raptors, but they were also very active. Greater strength, agility, than any human; but also, most likely, a correspondingly greater need to burn off energy. And there’s the hunting instincts, of course. Do you hunt?”

Claire thought of the dreams she sometimes had.

“No.”

“But you want to, right?” Dr Malcolm’s eyes twinkled knowingly. “You can’t suppress millions of years of evolution and expect it to just go away. Your ancestry includes one of the most efficient predators this world has ever seen. It’s only natural that you inherited something of their nature. If the word _natural_ can be applied to your particular case, that is.”

In spite of herself, Claire found herself listening to Dr Malcolm’s words. She’d never really discussed her heritage with her family in this… intellectual manner, and she was, in spite of herself, interested in what Dr Malcolm had to say.

So she decided to be honest.

“It’s hard,” she told him. “I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere. I try, but… there’s always this gulf between my experiences and those of the rest of humanity.”

“ _Claire_ ,” said her Dad. He sounded pained.

“Interesting,” said Dr Malcolm. He sounded like he meant it.

Just then their tour guide approached, and the group fell silent.

“Has everyone finished their meal?”

Claire looked down at her barely-touched meal. She’d been so engrossed in the conversation she’d hardly eaten a thing.

“Um, I’m still eating.”

“Well, we’re a little behind schedule, that’s all,” said Alyssa.

“A schedule?” said Dr Malcolm. “You know, that’s the thing about trying to impose order on chaos–”

Claire ate her steak, while Dr Malcolm gave an impromptu lecture on chaos theory and Claire’s Dad actually rolled his eyes.

They spent the rest of the tour together, Dr Malcolm asking Alyssa all kinds of difficult questions, which to her credit she either managed to answer well enough, or deflect in a way that didn’t make it sound like she was irresponsibly ignorant. Occasionally Claire’s Dad would chip in with a comment or question of his own. 

But Claire? She was mostly silent, trying to absorb the wealth of information being made available, taking in every aspect of this experience. She knew that it was likely the only time in her life she was going to get to see real-life dinosaurs, in the flesh – and she wanted to live every moment of this time to the full, and remember every second of it in as much detail as possible. 

She would have brought her camera along, only Alyssa had been very firm on the No Photography Or Recordings rule. Everything happening on Islar Nublar was very hush-hush – no one but its employees were going to know about the dinosaurs until the park officially launched, and even the employees had signed a bunch of NDAs before they began work on the island.

Claire and her Dad hadn’t signed anything, but they’d promised Mr Masrani’s agent on the phone that they wouldn’t speak to anyone of the park until the first press release. Now, looking at the dinosaurs in front of her, Claire could understand why they’d been asked to keep it secret: if anyone at all heard about this place, there was no way Masrani Global could keep it quiet for long.

“Do you have any predatory dinosaurs here?” asked Claire’s Dad, trying to sound casual. “Like velociraptors?”

“Oh no, no velociraptors,” the guide assured them. “Their intelligence was considered to be far too dangerous. However, we do have some predatory dinosaurs – for example the mosasaurus, and of course the original park’s T-rex, who was recaptured and placed in her own enclosure.”

Claire’s Dad went still, and both he and Dr Malcolm looked suddenly glassy-eyed.

“Are you okay?” asked Claire, looking away from the view of the Pachycephalosaurus enclosure to gaze at the two men in concern.

“You recaptured the T-rex,” said Dr Malcolm, in a slightly higher voice than before. “Well, that’s… something. Definitely something.”

So then Claire’s Dad started asking about the Tyrannosaurus rex enclosure, questions like how big the enclosure was and whether the fences were electrified and so on, and Claire tuned out in favour of staring at the dinosaurs again.

Claire and her Dad ended up staying on the island for three days. While Claire’s Dad and Dr Malcolm were walked through the security and behind-the-scenes stuff, Claire took to either hanging out in the bedroom suite she’d been given to sleep in overnight, or – far more frequently – walking out to the centre of the park to view the T-rex stalking around its enclosure or watching from the stands as the pachycephalosauruses fought one another.

Alyssa had offered to show Claire around the labs, but Claire declined. Claire had gotten close enough to the laboratory doors to get a whiff of a strange, chemical smell, and she’d immediately gone into a cold sweat as the smell had triggered irrational feelings of terror and panic. 

Why she had that bad of a reaction to the smell of the labs, she still didn’t know; and she didn’t _want_ to know. Whatever had triggered the emotion was buried deep inside her mind, beyond conscious memory, and Claire knew deep in her bones that it wouldn’t be pleasant to remember. Best to let it lie and try to forget it, whatever the source of her fear was.

On their final day at Jurassic World, Mr Masrani stopped by to talk to them. Claire had been packing her bags so that she and her Dad could take the next boat back to the mainland, when she heard Mr Masrani’s voice. When she left her room, he and her Dad were standing out in the corridor, talking. 

“I do hope that your inspection has left you satisfied with the standards of the new park, Dr Grant,” Mr Masrani was saying.

“Well, I don’t know,” said Claire’s Dad, which Claire knew to mean that he hadn’t actually identified any real problems with the new park, but still had misgivings on principle. But then, the kind of experiences he’d had at Jurassic Park were the sort of thing that was hard to shake off.

“Ian Malcolm has a point,” Claire’s Dad added, as Claire joined him. “There’s so much that could go wrong… how can you possibly be sure that you’ve covered every eventuality?”

“You are refusing to endorse the park?” Mr Masrani’s eyebrows rose.

“I didn’t say that,” said Claire’s Dad. “I need some time to think about it.”

“I see,” said Mr Masrani, with a frown. Claire chose that moment to speak up with a question, one she’d been hoping to ask someone who might actually know the answer.

“Mr Masrani,” Claire interposed, “I was wondering… do you intend to offer any internships at Jurassic World?”

Mr Masrani appeared surprised at the question.

“As a matter of fact, we do plan to make internships available, once the park has been developed further. Is that something you would be interested in, Miss Dearing?”

“Me personally? Very much,” said Claire.

Mr Masrani scrutinised her for a moment. 

“Are you planning to go to college, Miss Dearing?”

Claire nodded.

“I am. At the moment I’m looking at a degree in business administration,” said Claire. “Although I’m still waiting to hear whether I’ve been accepted into my preferred college, of course.” 

“You’ve just graduated from high school this year, I take it?” asked Mr Masrani, still looking at her with a thoughtful expression.

Claire nodded.

Mr Masrani seemed to come to a decision.

“The park should be operational within three years, and we will most likely offer one graduate internship per year, once it is open. I expect that competition for the internship will be extremely high… we will be looking for applicants with a good academic record, Miss Dearing, but a piece of paper isn’t everything: we will want someone with drive and good management skills, someone who can operate well in the real world.”

Mr Masrani pulled out a card case, and offered Claire a business card. 

“If you feel that you meet those criteria, once you have graduated from college,” he said, “then you may send your resume and other details through to our Human Resources division.” He smiled. “I will tell them to keep an eye out for your application.”

Claire was so stunned she found it difficult to find words. She managed to accept the business card, stammering her thanks.

“Thank you. That’s very kind of you. Thank you.”

Mr Masrani smiled.

“I have a sense for people, Miss Dearing,” he said. “That sense tells me that you are emotionally invested in the success of this park, even though you have only been here for a few days. That is a quality which money alone cannot guarantee, no matter how much one pays one’s employees. I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thank you,” said Claire, a third time. She still felt overwhelmed by the opportunity that Mr Masrani had just offered. Maybe she’d get an internship, maybe she wouldn’t: but she had a foot in the door, which was more than most people had.

On the boat back to the mainland, Claire sat next to her Dad, aware of his ponderous frown.

“Do you really intend to try and work there?” he asked finally, when Claire was halfway through reading one of the novels she’d brought with her. Claire looked up from her book.

“I’m surprised that you don’t want to,” she said.

Claire’s Dad laughed slightly, and shook his head.

“There’s a big difference between digging up the bones of something, and trying to look after a living version. No thanks.”

Claire waited. After a moment, her Dad went on talking.

“Claire, it’s one thing to want to go there for a visit… but working there? That’s a far bigger risk.”

“I know,” said Claire. “But Dad – you didn’t actually find any problems, did you? And Dr Malcolm didn’t either, or he would have gone on a monologue about it.”

Her Dad smiled a bit at that description of Dr Malcolm’s behaviour, recognising the truth in it; but his expression soon faded back into something troubled.

“You’re all I’ve got, kiddo,” he said. “The thought of anything happening to you…” His words trailed off, letting their implication hang in the air.

“I’ll be fine,” said Claire, feeling touched by her Dad’s admission. “I’ll ring you every week, tell you what the dinosaurs are doing. Dad – I’m careful, you know that, but there’s a difference between taking reasonable care and living in fear of what-ifs. I refuse to live in fear. Besides… that’s years away, and we don’t even know if they’ll employ me.”

Her Dad sighed.

“They’d be fools not to,” he said, and Claire smiled at him. He sighed again, even more heavily this time.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “Just… think about the dangers, Claire. Be aware of the worst-case scenarios, and be prepared. And if you do this, you’re the one who gets to break it to your mother.”

Claire made a face, because she could already imagine how _that_ conversation would go.

“She’d freak.”

“Definitely,” her Dad agreed.

And once the freaking out was done, Claire knew, her Mom would come up with a million well-reasoned, logical reasons for Claire not to go, and David would back her up, and then her Mom would try and get Karen to talk some sense into her…although Karen would probably support Claire all the way, which would lead to even more argument before Claire’s Mom finally accepted the inevitable.

“I need to try,” said Claire. “Haven’t you ever had a feeling… that you knew exactly where you were supposed to be, if only you could get there?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s what I’m feeling now, when I think about Jurassic World. Like it’s my _destiny_.”

Her Dad sighed again.

“Ellie’s never going to forgive me,” he muttered. Claire smiled a little.

“Probably not.”

Her Dad eyed her for a second.

“You’re supposed to reassure me,” he complained, but ruffled Claire’s hair. For once Claire didn’t protest the action, recognising it for what it was – a gesture of unspoken support.

“Like I said, it’s a few years off, yet,” she said. “But… it’s good to have goals, don’t you think?”

Her Dad smiled at her, his expression turning soft and fond. 

“You sound like your mother.”

“Mom has good sense, that’s why.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you more, growing up,” said her Dad, out of nowhere.

“I know,” said Claire, because she did.

“Things just got so… difficult, between me and Ellie, and it was easier to stay away, after the divorce. But that wasn’t fair on you.”

Claire was silent for a moment.

“You’ve always been there for me when I really needed you,” she said. “And the rest of the time, I wasn’t alone. I had Mom and Karen and David. But it would have been nice to see you more often.” She took a deep breath, and finally told him something she’d been keeping to herself. “I sent out an application to the college where you work. I don’t know if they’ll accept me, but I figured it’d be easier to catch up if we were both on the same campus.”

“It’s a good college,” said her Dad. He was smiling, the expression warm and gentle. “You’d do well there. And… it would be good, to see you more regularly. I never get to see you as often as I’d like. And if you’re on the same campus, I can introduce you to Tim,” her Dad added, with a slight grin.

“Tim?”

“Tim Murphy,” her Dad explained. “John Hammond’s grandson. Somehow, encountering raptors and a T-rex wasn’t enough to scare him off dinosaurs for life. He’s studying for his doctorate in palaeontology at the moment – I’m his supervisor. He’d be interested to meet you.”

Claire felt her eyebrows rise.

“He was one of the kids you looked after? So, he knows….?”

“He does,” her Dad confirmed. “But he’s a good kid. Puts up with me telling him all about how well you’ve been doing at school,” he added, with a flash of humour.

Claire blinked.

“You brag about me?”

“Bragging is a strong word,” said her Dad, but he was smiling. “More… taking pride in your accomplishments.”

“You totally brag about me,” said Claire. Her Dad just smiled.

“Well, I have a lot of reasons to brag.”

They fell back into silence, but Claire didn’t go back to her book right away. Instead her mind returned to contemplating Jurassic World.

Seeing dinosaurs in the flesh hadn’t filled a void in her heart, nor somehow given her life meaning that it hadn’t had before. Claire was still the same person she’d always been. But seeing real-life dinosaurs _had_ given her a new career aspiration – and Claire had every intention of achieving it.

Getting work at Jurassic World – and keeping any position she got – was likely to be highly competitive, difficult, and exhausting. But Claire thought of the dinosaurs she’d seen, of the sheer _ambition_ of Masrani Global’s project, and she knew, without a doubt, that she had to be part of it. She also knew that if anyone had the drive and the talent to work there, it was her. Success wasn’t assured, by any means… but Claire thought she had a good chance.

Smiling, Claire looked out the nearest window to where Islar Nublar was receding into the distance, surrounded by ocean.

She’d be back. One way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up in this series - raptor babies!


End file.
